About four of five years after after starting my experience with ancient coins, my collecting interest became fixated on large bronzes - imperial sestertii - and that and only that has been my interest ever since - not silver, not gold not anything but large bronzes and more particularly sestertii. Lots of reasons - the beauty of the coins, especially the gem like quality of the metal, the fact that it is possible to find bargains since bronzes are so difficult to photograph, as well as the feel of the coins, in any event despite many feeble attempts in other directions this is and has been since about 2003 my one and only focus - a 23 year infatuation that only another collector can understand. Imperial sestertii were stuck in a metal called orichalcum - ὀρείχαλκος - containing tin, copper, traces of lead, it is a brass alloy meant to look like gold. The coins that are of interest were struck from Augustus to Gallienus/Postumus, with one small coin struck by Aurelian that is called a sestertius due to its metal - but its weight is between 7 to 10 grams. In the final imperial period one coin was struck post Romulus Augustus which is called "the last sestertius" simply because it is a big bronze coin - but these are extremely expensive, and my chances owning one are essentially nil. But it is a pretty nice coin..... From observation - and totally anecdotal: the sestertii were generally about 33 - 36mm from Augustus to Claudius - finely made large coins, most with a consistent even roundness or sharp edge to the flan. Sestertii then generally became smaller under the Flavians, with more unevenness in the flan, except those struck in Thrace. Domitian did strike a sestertius (RIC 280) that had flans uniformly larger and more consistently round in the older style that showed him on horseback spearing an enemy with a shield. These must have been struck for a special occasion. Nerva's sestertii appear to be generally larger with more even flans. Some of Trajan's sestertii appear to also have the perfect flan with rounded edges from Nerva's reign - I have one. But others do not, and with Hadrian the size becomes more varied, Sabina small, Aelius same as Hadrian but my experience is limited - this continues until Marcus Aurelius - the needs of war may have forced a smaller sized flan. Oddly enough some of Faustina I's flans are quite large, even enormous with one I had (and foolishly sold) while Faustina II had smaller sestertii over time. Under Commodus some of the sestertii struck were medallic sized with weights over 30 grams - except for a short period later mid range when flans shrunk dramatically only to rise again. Under Septimius Severus in the earlier part of the reign the flans tended to be uneven - although not all - anything stated here is gross generalization until in 199AD the Rome mint ceased striking bronzes, except in tiny quantities, only to resume around 210AD. The sestertii that followed for Septimius, Caracalla and Geta - and Julia Domna tended to be larger, and well made. Under Macrinus I have little experience but it appears the flans were the same as under Elagabalus - the flans became smaller under Elagabalus, with those of his wives and mother and grandmother smaller still. The flans of Severus Alexander were the same size as Elagabalus at the beginning with some quite small with those of his mother Julia Mamaea and his wife Orbiana smaller. This changed for Severus Alexander as the reign went on. Maximinus - the early flans were the same size as Severus Alexander at the beginning then shrank as time went on. Gordian I and I - I have little experience. Under Gordian III the flans because permanently - generally - smaller and this pretty much continued until Gallienus with some ups and downs but - again generally the size of the sestertii was nowhere near what it was at the beginning of the reign - Valerian's sestertii were about as big as Trajan's as's - but thicker. The double sestertii of Trajan Decius and wife were about the same size as early sestertii. Postumus brought larger coins although not as large as early sestertii. With that extremely general anecdotal introduction out of the way....I have lately been diligently searching for later sestertii with oversized flans - I recall Richard Beale (of "4 Bad Years" fame) used to tell he he would search for larger sestertii - what I wanted to find were large examples of sestertii of emperors, empresses, princes etc. whose sestertii are typically smaller - those later in the imperial period - and within my budget - always a consideration (drat!). I managed to find two, fairly quickly - but after that nothing - despite months of looking. Here they are: Julia Mamaea sestertius - 26.57 grams, 34.2mm I found this beauty on ebay. And it is beautiful - perfect brown patina - and you can the lines on Julia's head! It is much larger than typical for this 'empress.' It is not a rare coin - there are many other examples but I have yet to find one this size. My one other sestertii of Julia Mamaea is barely 20mm. Phillip The Arab sestertiius: 30.27 grams 35mm This coin appeared out of nowhere, being sold by Naville Numismatics, I believe I was the only bidder. An amazing coin - I believe it was the first sestertius struck by Phillip. Both of the above coins are not medallions but would be called having medallic flans. Since then despite scouring pretty much everywhere I have only come across only one 30+ gram sestertius - of Commodus mid reign high grade that went for over a thousand euros - way out of my range. A few 26+mm examples but not of personages that have typically smaller flans. Not a single example post 250AD over 25 grams. I am sure they exist but I have not found any so far. I was able to buy an early sestertius which is included for comparison purposes: Augustus sestertius 39mm 25.55 grams - C Plotius Rufus - A large coin with sharp flat edges - I do not know much about these types as my interest is more toward portrait coins. This was purchased from Leu Numusmatik, a company I highly recommend. I should also mention this Titus sestertius: Titus sestertius as Caesar, Unknown Thracian mint. 35mm, 26.46 grams This coin was purchased about six months ago also from Leu for a reasonable price - I was looking for an affordable Titus as Augustus, found this large piece with a handsome portrait of Titus instead for a good price. Yes it needs cleaning - it looks like someone tried to do so and caused a divot on the reverse. I might just leave it alone. I have other large, heavy sestertii - some over 25 grams, a few over that, all but one in the safe deposit box - none are over 30 grams. I will post the large Caracalla sestertius which I have posted before which I forgot to photograph for this article. The search continues. On another subject - this is my one and only provincial medallion of Philippopolis, of Marcus Aurelius, with Marcus and Asclepius on the reverse. The obverse is lightly struck - look at that ghost nose! and unfortunately the portrait is a bit rough. But the reverse is beautiful and clearly shows Marcus. My question is this - the coin is developing a blue patina in the portrait - is there any way to clean that - or is there anyone who does this kind of work? I used to have one other medallion but foolishly sold it - adding to the many times I foolishly sold coins I should have kept. But it always seemed a good idea at the time. Maybe I should do a thread on that - I really wish I had some of these back but anything I sold would be because I wanted the money to buy something else.... ...............................As I said.... the search continues....
